


Fragile

by AlliAnnLopes



Category: High School Story (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4061728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlliAnnLopes/pseuds/AlliAnnLopes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wes Perez and Ezra Blake have had hidden feelings for as long as both of them can remember. What starts out as a heart-to-heart over recent events turns into... something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fragile

It was a cold January afternoon — a Friday afternoon, to be exact — and Wes was bored out of his mind.

He knew that he needed to get some English homework done for Olson’s class, but he really didn’t feel like starting the reading. Not just yet. He needed to let loose and have a little fun.

Thankfully, he was able to find someone to move his brother’s trailer right next to campus so he wouldn’t be stuck alone during Christmas break, so he could take Macbeth out for a walk in the snow surrounding the Hangouts. Hopefully, someone was free this afternoon to dog-sit Macbeth attentively while he read “To Kill a Mockingbird” cover to cover.

He tried the Nerd Hangouts, since those were the most abundant. When he peered into the windows, however, most of the nerds seemed to be in one Hangout, having a giant “Jeopardy”-esque game for the Science Club. As much as he loved hanging out with Nishan and the others, he wasn’t in the mood for Jeopardy. He passed by the Prep Hangouts, seeing Payton in the window, and they exchanged waves.

Next, he passed by the Jock Hangouts, and he saw Owen outside with Hamlet, his black labrador puppy.

"Wes!" Owen exclaimed, smiling as he went over to give Wes a hug. "What’s up with you?"

"Not much, Owen," Wes answered after hugging him back. He then noticed Hamlet clawing at the cuff of his jeans. "Hey, little dude." He picked up Hamlet and held his nose to the puppy’s. "Looking good, li’l guy." He placed the black lab down and turned his attention back to Owen. "Can you do me a favor and watch Mac tonight?"

"Yeah, totally." He picked up Macbeth. "At least he and Hamlet can get some playtime together again."

"Thanks, man. I owe you one."

"Don’t sweat it, Wes. You don’t owe me anything."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of an acoustic guitar blare from the Musician Hangout a dozen or so yards away.

"Looks like Connor’s getting a private jam session at the Musician Hangout tonight," Owen said as a few slow strums of the guitar played out, followed by an electric guitar overpowering it.

"Is that so?" Wes asked, smiling. "Looks like I’m paying the musicians a visit." He gave a small salute to Owen. "I’ll see ya later, alright?"

Owen nodded. “Okay. See ya, Wes.” He picked up the two dogs and brought them inside the warm Jock Hangout.

Wes slowly continued toward the Musician Hangouts, the wind picking up and reddening his face. As soon as he reached them, he hears three distinct sounds: the same acoustic guitar from before strumming a sad tune, the same electric guitar from before playing the first few chords to a lesser-known Journey song, and… crying?

The acoustic guitar and the sobbing came from the dimly-lit Musician Hangout, so that’s where Wes felt compelled to go. Ringing the doorbell, Wes waited for a few seconds in the cold for the door to open.

Standing in front of Wes when the door was opened was a red-eyed and miserable-looking Ezra. Ezra’s hands were shaky as they stood in awkward silence and Wes tried to process the different side he was seeing of the boy in front of him.

"C-Can I come in?" Wes asked, his head going a mile a minute.

Ezra nodded instantly, placing a hand on Wes’s shoulder and gently pulling him inside. Once in the main lounge of the Hangout, Ezra sat on one of the couches and buried his face in his hands.

Wes immediately sat next to Ezra, almost unable to speak. “What’s wrong?”

After a few shaky breaths, Ezra lifted his head. “I’ve just… I’ve been feeling so lonely after Jack and Lena messed with my head… I mean, Jack was actually a man about just going along with it — it was Lena’s idea, and he is really sorry about going along with it — but I still don’t have the ability to trust him.”

"You’ve gotta admit — he was a total jackass to you for the longest time, but what you feel is totally normal." Wes rubbed Ezra’s back, hesitating to say anything else.

Ezra nodded. “I know that.”

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Wes asked, “Do you want me to stay?”

"Yes."

Wes nodded. “Okay, but I have some reading I need to do for Monday. You don’t mind, do you?”

"Of course not. Just having you here is helping me."

And with that, Wes hugged Ezra gently and moved to another couch to read _To Kill a Mockingbird_.

 

* * *

 

Four hours later, Ezra looked up from his guitar to see that Wes was lying down on the next couch over, finding it hard to keep his eyes.

Slowly, Ezra went over to Wes, and he took the book out of Wes’s hand.

"Hey…" Wes said drowsily, objecting to the action. "I was reading that…"

"Well, now you’re not. You can’t keep your eyes open for more than a minute. You need to get some sleep."

"No, I need to keep reading, Ez."

Ezra chuckled as he pulled a blanket from off one of the other couches. “Your determination is pretty admirable, but you seriously need to get some shut-eye.” He placed the spread-out blanket over Wes, wrapping it around him. “I’m not letting you leave here to go back out in the cold. You’re sleeping here tonight.” He grabbed his acoustic guitar and sat in front of Wes. “I hope you don’t mind if I play a li’l somethin’.”

Wes shook his head. “I don’t mind.”

Gaining his focus, Ezra strummed the first few chords of the newest song that he learned to play. He let a soft breath before singing:

**You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down**   
**You, you enchant me even when you’re not around**   
**If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down**   
**I’m latching on, babe – now I know what I have found**

Ezra closed his eyes, imagining that Wes’s leaf green eyes were looking right at him again.

**I feel we’re close enough**  
**I wanna lock in your love**  
 **I think we’re close enough**  
 **Could I lock in your love?**

His hands started to tremble, knowing that Wes was probably listening to every word.

**Now I’ve got you in my space**  
**I won’t let go of you**  
 **Got you shackled in my embrace**  
 **I’m latching on to you**

Wes was shocked beyond words. Ezra had the voice of an angel, and he never thought that Ezra would be singing to him at all — never mind a song giving him signals that he’d been waiting for since they first met. He firmly closed his eyes for a split second before relaxing.

He felt his whole body sink into the cushions and embrace in the warmth of the blanket and Ezra’s voice.

**Now I’ve got you in my space**  
**I won’t let go of you**  
 **Got you shackled in my embrace**  
 **I’m latching on to you**

A whole new set of emotions started taking Ezra over. He couldn’t help but have fantasies start to go through his mind as he sang. There were so many things that he wanted to do with Wes, but he was so afraid that Wes would never know.

That was the part that scared the crap out of him. He hadn’t expected the boy of his dreams to just show up at his door and stay the night. He wasn’t lying about the story he told Wes, but it wasn’t the whole truth. He hadn’t told Wes that he was also lonely because he wanted Wes to be his so badly so neither of them would be lonely anymore.

He figured a song was the only chance to tell him everything.

**I’m so encaptured, got me wrapped up in your touch**  
**Feel so enamored, hold me tight within your clutch**  
 **How do you do it? You’ve got me losing every breath**  
 **What did you give me to make my heart bleed out my chest?**

Wes’s heart was hammering in his chest, instinctively making him place an arm over it. He really hoped that all this wasn’t just a dream.

**I feel we’re close enough**   
**I wanna lock in your love**   
**I think we’re close enough**   
**Could I lock in your love?**

Ezra ditched his guitar for the last part of the song, choosing instead to lay down next to Wes. He brushed Wes’s hair back behind his ear and sang the rest of the song.

**I feel we’re close enough**  
**I wanna lock in your love**  
 **I think we’re close enough**  
 **Could I lock in your love?**

Wes pressed his hand against his chest to try to stop his heart from pounding so hard. Ezra noticed this, and he moved Wes’s hand and replaced it with his own. Wes found it extremely comforting, and he was immediately soothed.

**Now I’ve got you in my space**  
**I won’t let go of you**  
 **Got you shackled in my embrace**  
 **I’m latching on to you**

Lying down with his chest against Wes’s back, Ezra sang the final chorus, in almost a whisper, into Wes’s ear as he wraps his arms around the smaller boy.

**Now I’ve got you in my space**  
**I won’t let go of you**  
 **Got you shackled in my embrace**  
 **I’m latching on to you**

Without even the slightest thought, Ezra turned Wes around and kissed him, running his free hand through Wes’s hair as he kept the other on Wes’s heart.

In an instant, Wes melted into the sofa further, feeling his entire body go limp as Ezra’s lips touched his. He was too drowsy to do anything in response, but he relished in the moment.

Almost as soon as their lips met, Ezra pulled away and kissed Wes’s forehead. “G’night, Wes,” he whispered. “Sleep well.”

With that, Ezra turned away and stood up, moving to another sofa and passing out as he drank in Wes’s presumably sleeping figure.

 

* * *

 

Neither could focus on anything properly for the next week.

The sensation of their kiss still lingered on each other’s lips, and the only thing that they could properly focus on was their embrace the week before.

For Ezra, his desires were sedated for the time being, but that didn’t mean that the experience didn’t affect him. Wes was heavily on his mind, and every chance he got, he sang “Latch” over and over again to relive that whole night.

Wes, however, was a complete zombie for the next week. His eyes were always glazed over, and he couldn’t focus on anything that wasn’t Ezra. Ezra’s angelic voice haunted him every minute of every day, and he almost cried himself to sleep knowing that he might never feel like he did that night ever again.

Both boys avoided each other for the past week, but Wes was the first to give in to his wants by giving Ezra a call.

"Hello?" came Ezra’s voice on the other end of the line.

"Ez, I…" Wes hesitated as he sat on his mattress in his brother’s trailer. "I really need you." His voice was almost a whisper, he was so nervous.

"Say no more," Ezra told him. "I’ll be there in about half an hour."

"Thanks." He struggled for a minute before adding "Feel free to just come in when you get here".

"Alright. ‘Bye."

“‘Bye.”

It took Wes a few seconds to hang up, but when he did, he fell to pieces on the bed. He hadn’t even noticed that thirty minutes had passed until he heard Ezra open and close the trailer door. He hadn’t tried to stop crying; he’d probably end up crying during their conversation, anyway.

Ezra stood at the doorway of the small bedroom. When he noticed that Wes had tears on his face, he immediately kicked off his shoes and joined Wes on the bed but on the opposite side.

"Come… come closer," Wes urged the taller boy.

Doing as told, Ezra crawled over next to Wes and took off his denim jacket.

That’s when Wes wrapped his arms around Ezra and kissed him.

Against his own wishes, Ezra pushed Wes away. “What’s… What’s this about?”

Wes bit his lip and hung his head. “When I came to the Musician Hangout last week, you… You treated me like I was the only person in the world that mattered to you.” He sniffled. “I’ve never felt like that before. I wanted so desperately to return the favor… but any time I tried to do that for anyone… they left. I was afraid that…” He felt tears roll down his face. “I was afraid that after all you did for me that night… you were going to leave me too.”

Ezra’s face had tears as well, and when Wes was finished, he held Wes in his arms. “I would never do that to you, Wes.” He kissed Wes’s forehead. “You’re never going to be alone. Not if I can help it.” He let out a soft breath. “I love you too much to do that.”

Before either boy could say anything more, Wes’s emerald eyes and Ezra’s icy blue ones locked. Ezra pulled Wes into his lap for another kiss, holding the smaller boy in one arm and brushing Wes’s hair with his other hand.

Wes immediately felt weak, and when Ezra noticed this, he laid Wes down on the mattress, lying down with him. They still had tears streaming down their faces, but these were of joy.

"I love you, Ezra," Wes whispered when they part lips.

Ezra smiled warmly, his ice blue eyes glittering. “I love you too, Wes.”

**Author's Note:**

> The song used in the story is the acoustic version of "Latch" by Sam Smith.


End file.
